Word: tarakan
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...operations plan was known as "Foo-Foo." In preparation the Australian First Tactical Air Force had flown the 1,400-mile round trip from Morotai to bomb Tarakan heavily. U.S. bombers of the Thirteenth Air Force added their bit. Then U.S. Rear Admiral Russell S. Berkey sailed his light task force of cruisers and destroyers in for four days' naval bombardment. Foo-Foo really got rolling when U.S. Rear Admiral Forrest B. Royal brought up his Seventh Fleet landing craft loaded with tough, felt-hatted veterans of the illustrious 9th Australian Division and a token Dutch force...
...Japanese opposition began. Then the battle steadied down to the usual drudging Southwest Pacific jungle fight, with the Aussies working diligently to erase each individual Jap. At some points the advance was slowed by electrically-controlled Jap minefields. But by this week the Aussies had reached the town of Tarakan and captured the island airfield two miles away...
...Tarakan, a triangular island some 15 miles long and eleven miles wide, was a rich prewar fuel-oil reserve. Some of its product was so pure it could be pumped directly into ships' bunkers. The oil was a big long-range item, but it was Tarakan's airstrip that was the immediate military attraction...
Several thousand Americans and Australians observed V-E day by killing Japanese soldiers in such places as Okinawa, the Philippines, Tarakan. To them the symbol V-E did not exactly spell victory. It spelt something like this: now we can get full power for our war; now we can win it and get home sooner...
...Borneo's Tarakan Island last week Dutch oilfield engineers and technicians went ashore close behind the attacking Australians. With them they carried oilfield tools and equipment shipped under Lend-Lease from...